Tools You Need to Start Your SEO Agency

Itamar Gero| 9mins read

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As an agency owner, you need to invest in the right tools to work more efficiently so you can focus on the important aspects of your business. In this post, we’ve rounded up the different tools that your agency can use to streamline work and make it easier to scale.

Starting an SEO agency is tough. It’s even tougher if you don’t know where to start. While a basic understanding of SEO helps you push through with projects, the bulk of the work falls on doing everything that needs to be done to close new clients and grow your agency.

The good news is we’re in a world where technology and tools make everything easier, and that includes running your SEO business. I once told my team that it doesn’t matter what tool you’re using as long as you get the job done. Looking back, the tools you use DO matter when you start an SEO business – because time is gold, and investing in the wrong tool can cost you more, money- and time-wise.

If you are doing a one-man show or only have three people in your team to manage things for your online marketing initiatives, you can ease some of the burden by using the following SEOReseller tools and resources for your SEO startup agency.

Tools for Generating and Nurturing Leads

The first question SEO agencies that are starting out often ask is this: “Where and how do I get my first clients?”

The basic answer is to do some networking, hand out business cards, introduce your digital agency to local businesses during events, turn that initial handshake into a sale and—if you’ve been successful in retaining the relationship—get referrals from your current clients.

But, if you want an easier and faster way to get leads, you’ll need the following SEO agency tools at your disposal:

1. Lead Generator

Networking activities and referrals can get you a handful of clients to start, but it’s tedious work for a digital marketing agency that’s starting out. You can be among the lucky ones who were able to get leads from the get-go, but you can’t always bet your success on luck and word-of-mouth. If you want to reach that 7-digit annual revenue status sometime soon, you need to up your game.

By using the Lead Generator, you can instantly generate leads based on the niche and location you want to target.

2. Web Audit Widget

The Lead Generator serves as one of your active lead generation efforts. But, how do you get leads passively? The Web Audit Widget is your answer.

A few blog posts ago, we talked about how a website’s primary purpose is to generate leads and some agencies have websites that aren’t built for lead generation. This means agencies who fall short on using their website as a channel for getting new clients are not fully utilizing their lead generation efforts.

With the Web Audit Widget, you can get new leads on your agency website while delivering value right from the very start. This supplements your other lead generation efforts.

How this tool works:

Serves as a lead magnet on your agency website

Provide value instantly by sending a website audit to prospects

Capture the information of your leads and funnel them into your CRM (we’ll get to that in a bit)

The Web Audit Widget is included in the SEOReseller plugin that you can download from WordPress. But if you want to see the power of this tool and the difference it makes for your lead generation, get the unlimited usage when you subscribe to our SEOReseller Pro plans.

3. CRM

In the days, digital marketers used to rely on the good ol’ Excel files for consolidating all the information they have on their current clients and leads. It works – until you lose track of all the information, or worse, lose all that information forever when you accidentally hit the delete button.

A complete nightmare you wouldn’t want to happen to you, ever.

That’s why we have the CRM as part of the Agency Tools on your white label dashboard. It’s the only tool you need to track, organize, and stay in touch with your leads.

How this tool works:

All leads coming from different sources (Lead Generator, Web Audit Widget, contact forms on your site, and networking activities) funnel into the CRM

Provides you with a quick view of which leads to focus your attention on – you’ll see who’s hot, warm, cold, slipping away, and disqualified

Makes it easier to start nurturing the relationship

With the CRM, you’ll stay on top of your lead generation efforts and make sure no lead falls between the cracks when you’re starting an SEO business.

4. Marketing Automation

You have your leads list, and the contact information of your prospects is in your CRM, now what?

You have to nurture the relationship and lead them in every stage of the customer journey.

One thing is for sure—you don’t let those leads sit and wait for them to magically convert. This is a grave mistake that new SEO companies often make. If you don’t touch base with your leads, most of them will likely start slipping away, and you’ll lose the opportunity to close a potential client.

You have to nurture the relationship and lead them in every stage of the customer journey. Send them a cold email that targets their intent and supplement that email with useful, quality content. The Marketing Automation serves this purpose. Leads you want to nurture will receive email sequences once you run an automation, so you don’t forget doing it at all.

How this tool works:

Provides pre-built emails that are tailored to match the specific need of your lead

Allows you to create customized email templates that you can send to prospects

Of course, nurturing leads doesn’t stop once you’ve activated a sequence in the Marketing Automation. Give your leads something more special to show the value that you can offer, so the conversation doesn’t end.

Tools for Selling to Prospects

Selling digital marketing services isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Businesses always get a cold email or a call from an SEO agency pitching their services. And when they do, SEO professionals will always have to expect questions like, “How does this service make an impact on my business?” or “Why do I need this service in the first place?” Walking into a conversion like that can be challenging, especially if you’re starting out and don’t know the ropes.

1. Mockups

There’s a difference between selling SEO and website design. Unlike in SEO where the results happen in the course of a month or two, you need to have a design ready when selling a website.

Web design involves a lot of back and forth. The mere task of creating a mockup will take you days—weeks if you don’t have the in-house designer to do website design for you. With the Mockup Creator, you don’t have to worry about having a designer onboard or spending a lot of your time just to create a mockup for your next web design sales pitch.

How this tool works:

Allows you to design a website from your agency dashboard

Provides mockups for different types of businesses and niches

Allows you to choose elements to include in the mockup for a more customized feel

No need to think about hiring an extra designer—the Mockup Creator is your designer.

2. Web Audit via Dashboard

Facts and figures are one of the things prospects will always ask for before they close. After all, they want to see the value of your service before they purchase from you. If you’re unable to show them this right from the beginning, you’re going to have a hard time convincing them down the road.

Ahrefs, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, SEMRush, and a whole bunch of tools can provide you with all the data you need for your clients. The question is – Do you have time to get all those data and compile them into a report?

It’s easy, but doing it for 15 clients at a time? You’ll have to rethink your approach.

You don’t have to pull data from here and there just to prove why a prospect needs your service—your dashboard can do it for you with its Web Audit function. The best thing about this audit tool? It’s easy to generate the audit. Just type the website of your lead and you’ll get the SEO audit in minutes.

How this tool works:

Provides you with a comprehensive site audit for your lead

Shows a preview of the generated audit

Allows you to send the audit with a personalized email

With the Web Audit via Dashboard function, it won’t take you days to get that audit ready for your leads.

3. Proposal Builder

How you present information is crucial to closing. If your information isn’t valuable enough to your prospect, how do you expect them to close? One answer: an impressive proposal.

A well-drafted proposal provides your agency with the arsenal to close prospects, and the Proposal Builder gives you just that. This tool makes it easier for your new agency to generate proposals that you can send to prospects instantly.

How this tool works:

Provides you with branded, ready-made proposals for specific services

Allows you to customize the proposal to include your business and pricing information

Sends the proposal directly on your dashboard with a personalized email

The next time you make a pitch, you can just go to the Proposal Builder and start generating proposals to close your next clients.

4. White Label Resource Materials

One of the main challenges of any new SEO agency is proving that you are the expert to trust and that your methodology works. This proof often comes in the form of portfolios, digital assets, or case studies, and this is where it gets tricky—you need data from previous clients as your basis to produce a portfolio and build credibility, but what if you don’t have previous clients?

We solve this with white label resource materials created just for your agency and available for download right from your dashboard. The Resource Center is a treasure-trove of everything you need to showcase authority and prove expertise to leads. It’s not just for helping you educate your clients; you can also use the materials in the Resource Center to educate your in-house team.

How this tool works:

Provides you with tons of brandable content and materials for educational and marketing purposes

Includes all the necessary documents (business plans, Service Level Agreements, SEO contracts, etc.) you need to get started with your SEO agency

No need to spend days creating a resource material that you can show to a prospect—they’re all in the Resource Center, and they’re just a click away to download.

Tool for Managing Campaigns and Reporting

Finally, you’ve successfully closed a lead, and they’re now ready to start a campaign! You can now sit back and relax. Or not.

Work is not yet finished—there are still a few steps to be done before you can give yourself a pat on the back. As an SEO agency, you’re responsible for keeping your clients updated with how all your digital marketing efforts have paid off. How else are you going to get recurring customers if you’re unable to show progress and results?

1. White Label SEO Dashboard

When you sign up as a new SEO agency with SEOReseller, you get a FREE white label SEO dashboard with your own logo and colors customized to match your personal brand. Your dashboard serves as your main SEO agency platform to start selling services and tracking digital marketing campaigns for your clients.

With all the tools in the dashboard, you’ll have all the essentials to propel your SEO business to success and show your agency is technologically-capable of delivering solutions.

Which Tools are You Going to Use for Your SEO Agency?

I’d say all of them.

If you’re aiming to take your new SEO agency to the next level, why not maximize the available resources? Remember the best tools for startup SEO agencies don’t just serve as your essentials when running a digital marketing business, but also provide you the springboard to success.

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